Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Very Interesting PB and Ibook

B

bob909bob

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 20, 2005
55
0
I did a special config comparison at the apple store website. Check this out, the 14 inch Ibook vs the 12 inch Powerbook when you pay $1499 for each.

14 Inch Ibook

1.42 Ghz G4
768 mb ram
Superdrive
32mb ATI 9550
100 Gb Hardrive

12 Inch Powerbook

1.5 Ghz G4
512 mb ram
Superdrive
64mb Nvida
80 Gb Hardrive

12 Inch Ibook

1.33 Ghz G4
1.5 Gb ram
Combo Drive
32mb ATI 9550
100 GB Hardrive

This is very interesting to me. Each one of these systems has it's own advantages. The Powerbook has fastest processor and best vid card. The 14 Inch Ibook is almost identical to the Powerbook with slightly worse processor and vid card but with slightly better hardrive and ram. The 12 inch Ibook I think is the best of the three for most people though. The processor speed is the slowest and no superdrive but with a 100 gb hardrive and 1.5 gb of ram I would probaly say that I think it is the config out of the three I would most like to have.

I think though when you make a comparison like this though it is clear that the 12 inch Powerbook is priced right where it should be in comparisson to the Ibook.
 
Don't forget to factor in build quality if you are a stickler for things like that. My girl friend recently bought a new ibook and was disapppointed with the quality relative to the powerbook. The 12" ibook is also a a bit thicker and heavier than the powerbook, so ultaportability is in favor of the powerbook. Probably still a close call, but that might give another consideration that is often overlooked.
 
The 14" iBook doesn't have a better hard drive. Yes for the £1499 price you are looking at you can bump it to 100GB capacity, but the iBook hard drives are slower, at only 4200 rpm.
 
bob909bob said:
I think though when you make a comparison like this though it is clear that the 12 inch Powerbook is priced right where it should be in comparisson to the Ibook.
Click to expand...

Nice try, but I don't think so.
First, you're paying $300 for that 1 gig of RAM on the 12" ibook (Crucial currently has it for $197, and when I got mine it was less than that), and $200 for +60 GB of HD space (and $100 to go from 80 GB to 100). That's absurd.
Second, it's not true that the powerbook has the best video card. It has the worst video card - but it does have the most VRAM. I'd rather have a 32 MB 9550 than a 64 MB 5200go any day of the week, and twice on sundays.
Third, the 12" ibook's performance is going to kick the everliving crap out of either of the other two when it has that much more RAM.

And finally, notice what you've done here - brought the ibooks up to the cost of the powerbook. You're trying to get the 12" ibook up to $1500 when in reality, that's not what most ibook buyers do or need to do. Yeah, you can get there if you try, but you can't get the powerbook down to $1000 no matter what you do, yet that's exactly what many people actually do pay for the ibook.

I don't see any way at all to justify a 12" powerbook right now. You're paying $500, 50%, more than for an ibook, for: 167 mhz, a superdrive, 5400 RPM hard drive (40 GB more), audio line in, and DVI. Meaningless advantages? No. Worth $500? I don't think that's anywhere close. Especially when you consider that the ibook has a better video card and higher RAM capacity. You can argue build quality on the powerbook, but then again, the ibook has better battery life and wifi range. All in all, the powerbook is a horrible deal right now, no two ways about it.
 
Well, it is faster. Faster processor, faster bus, faster hard drive, and you get more video memory. The video card may not be as fast, but you still have more video memory, and that is important to some people.

Next, you cannot connect the iBook to a beautiful Apple Cinema Display, so if you need to do that, the iBook is right out the window.

Finally, unless you go with the big 14-inch form factor (making it hard to travel and giving you no extra screen resolution), you can't burn a DVD.

The Powerbook 12-inch still fits a very important need. Of course, never forget it is gorgeous. :)
 
The whole point of my post was to show that the systems are all comparable. Each on hads it's own advantage in the main areas as I have show if you do special configs. I'm not saying which is the best all I'm trying to show is that each system has it's strong and weak points but in the end their all good IMO
 
powerbook911 said:
Well, it is faster. Faster processor, faster bus, faster hard drive, and you get more video memory. The video card may not be as fast, but you still have more video memory, and that is important to some people.
Click to expand...
I'd say this adds $100 in value to the PB over the iBook, and most of this $100 is due to HD speed. Too bad that's not the price difference (if you don't include edu discounts).
 
I agree with swindmill about build quality...and I'm always amazed that for a group of enthusiasts who constantly crow about the quality and design of Apple's products, that we don't more often notice that there is a difference between the two 'books - and it's not just white vs. silver or plastic vs. aluminum :rolleyes:

I have an 12" iBook (older 800mhz G4) that I love - but if I put it next to my brother's PB of the same size and similar specs, there's just no comparison. Is it worth $500 more? Well, likely not if system performance is your primary metric -- but if you are concerned about materials / build / extra features, it just might tip the scales...
 
Practical application

So let's see this comparison shake down.

I'm looking to replace my 12" powerbook (1 ghz, 512 ram), which had terrible build quality, resulting in a faulty CD Drive.

I was waiting for the 12" PB updates on Wednesday; alas, none came. So, my options are to buy a fully loaded 12" PB, 12" iBook, 14" iBook, or 15" PB.

Here's how they work out. Now, tell me, for a student that values portability, wireless connectivity, and the ability to work with large docs/graphics and run multiple programs (hence, needing RAM), which is the best buy?

Specs are as follows, pulled from the apple site with my configs, edu pricing.

iBook 12" 1.33GHz Combo - $1400
1.33GHz PowerPC G4
1.5GB DDR333 SDRAM (512MB built-in & 1GB SO-DIMM)
100GB Ultra ATA drive
Keyboard & Mac OS X - U.S. English
Combo drive (DVD/CD-RW)
Accessory kit
12.1-inch TFT Display
1024x768 resolution
ATI Mobility Radeon 9550
32MB DDR video memory
Built-in AirPort Extreme
Built-in Bluetooth 2.0+EDR
Scrolling Trackpad
Sudden Motion Sensor

iBook 14" 1.42GHz - $1600
1.42GHz PowerPC G4
1.5GB DDR333 SDRAM (512MB built-in & 1GB SO-DIMM)
100GB Ultra ATA drive
Keyboard & Mac OS X - U.S. English
Accessory kit
8x SuperDrive (DVD±RW/CD-RW)
1.42GHz PowerPC G4
14.1-inch TFT Display
1024x768 resolution
ATI Mobility Radeon 9550
32MB DDR video memory
60GB Ultra ATA hard drive
Built-in AirPort Extreme
Built-in Bluetooth 2.0+EDR
Scrolling Trackpad
Sudden Motion Sensor

PowerBook 12" 1.5GHz SuperDrive - $1715
1.5GHz PowerPC G4
1.256GB DDR333 (256MB built-in + 1GB SO-DIMM)
100GB Ultra ATA drive @5400rpm
AirPort Extreme Card
Keyboard/Mac OS - U.S. English
12.1-inch TFT Display with 1024x768 resolution
Slot-load 8x SuperDrive (DVD±RW/CD-RW)
NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5200 graphics card with 64MB DDR memory
Full size keyboard
10/100BASE-T Ethernet
USB 2.0 and FireWire 400

PowerBook 15" 1.67GHz SuperDrive - $2430/$2159
1.67GHz PowerPC G4 processor
2GB PC2-4200 DDR2 - 2x1GB SO-DIMMs/1GB PC2-4200 DDR2 - 1 SO-DIMM
120GB Ultra ATA drive @ 5400 rpm
AirPort Extreme Card & Bluetooth
15.2-inch TFT widescreen display with 1440x960 resolution
Slot-load 8x SuperDrive (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 graphics card with 128MB DDR memory
Full-size, backlit keyboard
Gigabit Ethernet
USB 2.0 and FireWire 400 & 800
Backlit Keyboard/Mac OS - U.S. English
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back